


Idyllic

by Puffinpastry



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Domestic Fluff, Don’t climb on rooftops in the rain, Hero | Luminary is Named Eleven | El (Dragon Quest XI), M/M, References to Depression, Talking about feelings for once in their lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29463351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puffinpastry/pseuds/Puffinpastry
Summary: So many mornings spent just this way, and each of them perfect.Each of them so beautifully, serenely, terrifyingly, deceptively perfect.
Relationships: Camus | Erik/Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 28





	Idyllic

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this a week ago for valenslimes but then had a better idea for the gift and ended up crunching it the day before, while this just sat ready to go.  
> So.  
> Here. Extra fic!

The days of waking up to the harsh light of the sun seemed so long ago, now.

But at the same time, they felt so very, very close. 

But it was nice, not having to help their group drag El from his tent. Not having to plug his ears while Veronica cast a  _ bang _ spell to startle him awake, or ending up having to fetch some ice-cold water from the closest stream to dump over the hard-working, honorable luminary’s head. 

Just quiet, peaceful…

Dog nose.

Erik sighed.

Even in peacetime he wouldn’t be allowed to sleep in. 

“Go away.” Erik muttered, half into his pillow, and half into the bundle of fluff they’d somehow ended up with, but said fluff did not give in. 

It just whined, smacked a paw against the mattress, and again, shoved its cold, wet little puppy nose into Erik’s face.

This time, with the addition of  _ licking the inside of Erik’s nose.  _

_ That  _ was more than enough to jolt him awake.  _ “Gah!”  _ Erik dragged the back of his hand against his face, and opened his eyes up just enough to glare malice at the fluffy little abomination El had brought home. 

_ Just  _ because Sandy went and had a litter of puppies. But… It’s not as if Erik had been able to say no, either. Not when Pebbles had fit in the palm of his hand, eyes and ears closed, stumbling around blindly on unsteady legs over his brothers and sisters — Pebbles yipped, one short ear-piercing sound — and Erik wasn’t mad anymore. 

“Alright, you little damn parasite,” Erik pushed himself up off the bed, prying El’s arms from around his middle without a worry of waking him. 

All El did was flop to his back.

Without drastic measures, he’d wake when he was ready, and not a moment earlier. And as such, “come on, let’s see what I can scrounge up for breakfast.”

He glanced back at El just to be sure he would remain asleep, and sure enough, he was out would probably remain that way for longer than anyone would think to be necessary.

Maybe it was a little creepy, but Erik could sit and watch him sleep for ages. Just knowing how  _ serene  _ it finally was for him, after months upon months of fitful nights on the road, sleeping where they could whenever they hadn’t any choice but to break for camp… There wasn’t a single line of strain on his face to be found, and he was sleeping sprawled out on his back, instead of curled in on himself. The mark on the back of his hand glowed faintly in the early light. No visions, no nightmares.

He deserved this peace.

He’d more than earned it. 

Pebbles happily leapt off the bed, that he  _ technically  _ wasn’t allowed on, and trotted just at Erik’s heels, ready to trip him up like he seemed to love doing so much.

El wouldn’t be awake for a handful of hours at best, so he’d have the house to himself. All too easy to relax into the calm morning, chase away the chill in the air with a fire in the hearth, hot tea, and fresh, warm bread smothered in buzzberry preserves.

And if he tossed some of the crust to Pebbles, then that could just be their little secret. He could still grump at El for sneaking him bits of beef fat under the table when they sat down for dinner. 

So many mornings spent just this way, and each of them perfect.

Each of them so beautifully, serenely, terrifyingly, deceptively  _ perfect. _

And he  _ tried  _ to stay hopeful, tried to keep his darker thoughts at bay however he could.

But sometimes… As beautiful as it was, sometimes it looked like a façade. 

The air was damp as Erik opened up the window shutters, and though dawn was hours ago, it was still much darker than it should be.

It would storm, and if the annoying discomfort in his old scars was anything to go by, it wouldn’t blow by fast.

Wonderful.

El was still asleep, and if the rain was as close as it felt… “Pebbles!” Erik called for the dog — with the name he had  _ jokingly  _ suggested before he was illuminated to the little villages more traditional naming practices — and went for the door. 

Cobblestone never really seemed to get any kinds of extreme weather, be it heat or snow or rain, but Erik wasn’t about to believe that it  _ actually  _ never got it.

Well… It certainly wouldn’t be like prepping for a winter storm in Sniflheim, but there was probably still  _ something  _ he needed to do, right? 

Cobblestone wouldn’t flood, even if the streams may break their banks a little. There weren’t enough trees around to worry about one falling. And the temperatures wouldn’t drop enough to be of any real concern.

So… no. He guessed there actually wasn’t anything he needed to do.

But doing anything at all would help the restless feeling.

Even if all he returned with was something to occupy Pebbles with while they were stuck inside, it’d be worth it.

He just needed to keep busy.

Dreary weather visible just above their heads or not, the village was anything but empty. 

If there was one thing about Cobblestone he would  _ never  _ get used to, it was just how friendly the villagers were. That wasn’t to say that other towns and cities were outright mean -with a few notable exceptions- but something about Cobblestone was simply different.

They were nice without any motive to be so.

After having to stop for a heartbeat and wave to the couple  _ -he still didn’t know the names of-  _ he continued down the twisting mossy footpaths. If he wasn’t careful, he’d get lost.

Again.

Cobblestone wasn’t a big village, and yet he got lost in it more than he ever did in Heliodor.

But at least Heliodor made  _ some  _ sort of sense beyond  _ ‘oh this land is flat enough to build on? Stick a house on it.’ _

At least no one else stopped him on the way to the little store that the village boasted. 

_ That  _ was something else Erik didn’t really get. One store. In the whole of the village. 

The kindly old woman behind the counter spotted him straight away, and smiled brightly. “Oh, good morning, Erik! Is El not with you?”

“Nah.” Erik said, still not entirely comfortable with everyone. It was odd. Normally he could slip unnoticed into just about anywhere, but  _ here…  _ Something was just different. Maybe it was the people. Maybe it was how calm it all was. Maybe it was just him. “He’s still out cold.”

“Lazy child.” She sniffed, but her act of disliking El was painfully transparent. So what, he left a few toads here and there as a kid? Didn’t make sense to keep a grudge  _ that  _ silly,  _ this  _ long. Well, it didn’t matter. Not while Erik didn’t mind doing all the shopping. “At least he’s got you, these days. Do try to keep him out of trouble.”

Funny times, when a thief and ex-felon was the one meant to keep the Luminary from pranks and misdemeanors.

But it was a job he was all too happy to do.

Or-

_ Pretend  _ to do.

The Almighty knew he wasn’t actually all that good at dissuading less-than lawful habits. Spending the year on the road with him… A few tips and tricks were bound to rub off. “I’ll give it a shot.” Erik promised, a little less than truthfully.

“Well, what can I get for you? I don’t have as much as those merchants that pass on by, but there’s nothing you can’t get by just fine on with the basics.”

He didn’t need anything. He was probably wasting her time.

Except…

The shop was empty of other patrons. “Not much.” Erik answered, “Just some treat to keep the dog from getting bored, I guess.” 

Granny -Erik  _ really  _ needed to work on remembering names. But when they all were named after  _ rocks  _ it was hard to remember who was who!- looked decidedly unimpressed. 

“Any pup would be thrilled with nothing more than a tough bit of gristle thrown their way. What do you really want?”

Erik didn’t quite know how to react to that.

“Come on, boy,” She slapped one hand down on the countertop, “I’ve only got so much life left in these old bones, you really gonna waste it by standing there and making me play a guessing game? Out with it!”

Well. That would be difficult, considering he didn’t even know. “I, uh…” he tried to begin, to find something he  _ might  _ need that El wouldn’t be confused to see him come home with, when she leveled a glare at him. The truth came right out. “I’m trying to figure out what I need to have prepared for the storm.”

“For the  _ storm?” _

“Yeah.” Erik said, feeling his ears grow warm. Was that really that stupid an idea?

“You’re from Sniflheim, ain’tcha?”

At this point Erik didn’t even know what that meant. He lived there once, sure. But he also lived in Heliodor. He’d  _ lived  _ just about everywhere, for some amount of time. “I was  _ once.” _ He admitted. 

“Do all y’all up there get up in arms every time it blizzards? Do you prepare for every little snow flurry?” 

_ No.  _ “Only when they can tell it’s building up to something nasty. But the city’s built around keeping out the worst of the weather.” 

“So the locals don’t get scared?” Erik nodded. “Is El nervous? Do you see everyone hiding in their houses?”

El wasn’t even awake to be worried yet. But… the air pressure had been screaming  _ rainstorm  _ for days. The clouds that had been forming up above long before that morning. “No.”

“You don’t need to worry none.” She said, going from huffy to gentle in an instant. “The storms sound bad, but it’s never anything Cobblestone can’t weather. Now,” she carried on before Erik could even think to thank her for the assurance, “let me get you a few things.”

“I really don’t need anything, in that case.” Erik tried to say, but it was already too late. 

He left the shop with a bag filled to bursting with oddly full-sized  _ ‘samples’  _ of baked breads, cured meats, and two fresh jars of a new apricot preserve recipe.

As if she hadn’t just dropped the buzzberry one on them just a week before.

_ Again  _ he wondered how these people made a living. 

But. Fine. It wasn’t as though he was  _ complaining- _

“Erik!” Yet another voice stopped him, and Erik took a second to wonder if all the stopping was even worth coming out. Pebbles dashed off to meet Gemma, and he was forced to follow. “Thank goodness, I was hoping to bump into you!” 

_ Hoping to?  _ “Is something wrong?” Erik asked, trying to run through different scenarios in his head. Could there be a roaming group of monsters he and El needed to take care of? But then why wouldn’t she just go to El? Hell, why would she come to him for anything? It wasn’t like she’d ever need something stolen. But that wasn’t to say he wouldn’t be willing to break into Heliodor castle again just to get it, if anyone in Cobblestone ever asked. It wasn’t as though Jade wouldn’t just let him walk free. 

“Nothing’s  _ wrong.”  _ Gemma answered, shifting the weight of what she was carrying, “you’ve gotta calm down a little, I swear. You and Ellie both.”

He thought that his jumps to irrational and drastic conclusions were completely reasonable, given the great evils he’d had a hand in taking down, but sure. What she said.

“Here!” Without waiting for him to respond, or rephrase his question into something a little less serious, the folded blanket she had been carrying was dropped into his already-full arms. “I was going to just bring this by, but…” she grinned. “It’s much easier than lugging it all the way to your cottage!”

“What is it?” Erik asked, struggling to get a proper hold on it without dropping and shattering the jam jars. 

“I decided to give quilting a go.” She explained the most obvious part first. “And just because!” She said before Erik could ask his next question of  _ why.  _

God. He hated gifts. How was he supposed to react? Just saying ‘thank you’ never quite felt like enough, and if he tried to gush about it all he ended up doing was embarrassing himself. “I… really appreciate the thought.” He started, hoping he sounded genuine and not just annoyed. “But you really don’t have to-”

“You’ve been with us long enough to know there’s no point in tryin’ to get her to stop.” Pebbles had stopped yipping at both their ankles, and Dunstan pushed himself up on his staff to speak to Erik. “She’ll have us all in new wools by the time winter comes back around.”

Right. “Well - thanks, then.” Erik said, and Gemma beamed. 

“Don’t worry about it!” She said, and started back up the path, giving him one last warning. “And try to get home before the rain starts, and if you hadn’t noticed…” she stopped, and pointed around the corner of the shop he’d just left. “You’ve got a tail, this morning.”

A  _ tail?-  _ ah.

Erik  _ definitely  _ should have stayed home. 

Especially if he couldn’t notice Cole’s stomping on his own. 

Gemma and her grandfather left before they too got saddled with Cobblestone’s local Problem Child.

He might as well get this done with.

“Alright, you runt.” Erik called out. “The jig is up!” 

And just like that, a dusty, indignant little brat rounded the corner. “She didn’t need to give me away like that.” He mumbled into his shirt collar, kicking at a loose stone. “I never get to have any fun.”

When  _ fun  _ always seemed to imply pestering at best and trespassing at worst… No. He didn’t.

Erik sighed, and turned on his heel back towards home.

But Cole just jogged up to catch up.

“Come  _ on!”  _ Cole kept pestering at him, throwing every ounce of his less-than-considerable weight into his steps, kicking up dust but not much else. “You’ve got tons and tons of stories! If you can’t take me on an adventure, you can at least tell me about one, can’t you?”

The kid made a fair point. If a story or three was all it took to make him ease up on his requests for trips to Mount Huji and the Snærfelt, then he absolutely could take a couple minutes out of his day to indulge him. “Alright, then…” Erik trailed off, hitched his bag of groceries up higher, and glanced up at the clouds. Getting darker by the second, but they still had time. He’d just let the kid trail after him back home. It wasn’t unusual for the village kids to end up at their place, anyhow. His parents wouldn’t worry, knowing full well about his previous little attempts for a look at the local legend, begging for stories, for adventure, and on two noteworthy occasions, trying to steal off with the sword of light. They kept all their weapons and gear locked up, now. “How about how El took down the Lord of Shadows?” He didn’t like glamorizing their feats. Their adventure, as it was so fondly called, was difficult. It was long and hard and it hurt all of them at least once by the end. But at the same time… For a child, a few embellishments to hide the hardships wouldn’t hurt. At least until he was old enough to know better. 

“I know that one already!” Cole groaned, and Erik resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 

At least his sigh was hidden by the thunder in the distance. 

He shooed Pebbles to the side, and opened the door.

Cole sauntered in before Erik had a chance to invite him. Part of Erik wanted to be halfway offended at the rude little kid, but the other half… 

Probably not a good sign that he saw a little bit of his own bratty self in that. Less so that he kinda wanted to nurture it, but knowing  _ Mia…  _ He’d contain himself for the knowledge of where it would lead. 

He caught sight of El as Cole dropped himself into the bench to his side, interrupting his own late breakfast. He glanced to Erik, saw his resignation, and recognized the visit for what it was. It was  _ this,  _ or it was remaking the locks on their weapons chest  _ again.  _ “We’re trying to find a story to tell.” Erik explained, and El nodded his sage understanding, returning to his food and leaving Erik for the wolves. Or… wolf pup. “How about…”  _ come on, Erik… Something for a kid.  _ “We uh, fought a witch! She froze all of Sniflheim-”

“I’ve heard that one a hundred times!” Cole, the dramatic tiny bastard, leaned so far back in his seat that he nearly toppled over and El nearly fell out of his  _ own  _ chair to stop him from hitting his head on the floor. 

Okay, yeah. Neither he nor Mia were ever quite this bad. 

He hoped that El caught his wavelengths of  _ ‘for Yggdrasil’s sake I hope this puppy is as close as we get to an actual child.’ _

If El took pity and dared to try and bring home some orphaned kid off the street like a box of abandoned kittens… 

Well there wouldn’t be much he  _ could  _ do but the point stood.

“Okay,” Erik said through only  _ slightly  _ gritted teeth, and set his bag down on the table to be dealt with later, “do you have any ideas, then?”

Cole shot right back up. So he did. The  _ one  _ time the kid didn’t speak his mind, and he just expected others to read it. “Yeah! I heard somebody say that you got tossed in the dungeons, just like us!” He was speaking to them both, and even though there probably wasn’t a lighter story to be told… Erik felt something rotten sit in his stomach.

Of all the things… “How did you escape?” 

_ “I  _ didn’t.” El said, leaning his head on his hand and still for all the world looking half-asleep. “Erik broke us both out. If it’d just been up to me, I’d still be sitting in that cell.” 

That wasn’t true. Whether he was broken out by some divine intervention or just whatever it was Hendrik had promised… But Erik didn’t speak up to correct him.

Somehow, he didn’t feel ashamed as El recounted the tale. He didn’t make it out to sound half as terrifying as it was. He didn’t make Erik out to be some criminal that took El and ran, nearly dragging him to his death from dragon to cliff, but really like it was the start of some storybook adventure.

The rot went away, just as quickly as it had appeared. 

For a moment.

Things felt good.

“There’s a  _ dragon  _ under the castle?” Cole demanded, as if he hadn’t just heard that fact, slamming his hands down on the table top and propping himself up on the bench. 

His shoes were on the cushion. 

He was lucky to be in a household that didn’t actually give a shit about that sort of thing. 

“Not anymore.” El said, and Cole deflated. 

Erik took a moment to wonder if he should tell his mother to watch out for escape attempts to Heliodor castle.

Probably. 

“We went back and took care of it.” Erik said, and the  _ look  _ Cole turned on him. 

Hero worship. He didn’t like that. 

_ When did slaying a dragon become more impressive than defeating a being of pure darkness? _

“How did you get away from it?”

“We, uh,” Erik glanced at El, but he wasn’t jumping to his rescue. He took care of half the story, now this part was Erik’s ordeal, “we ran.”

“You can’t run from a  _ dragon.”  _ Cole informed him, as if he were an idiot, and not the person telling the story.

“We were underground, further than even the dungeons, in a cave. We didn’t have any other choice.”

“But how did you  _ get away?”  _ Cole asked him again. “How did you get it to stop chasing you?”

There wasn’t any way to make this sound impressive. “We just kept running, and eventually found a place to run where the dragon couldn’t follow.” Okay, so. Story time did  _ not  _ seem to be an adequate trade off for no more adventures. “And after the dragon, we had a bunch of guards after us again.”

“Let me guess,” Cole said, completely flatly and bored out of his mind, “you ran?”

“We jumped off a waterfall, actually.” Erik said, even though there  _ had  _ been more running. 

El began to smile, and Cole was interested in what he was saying once more. “A waterfall? How high? Was it as high as the Tor?”

“It wasn’t anywhere near that high, so don’t go getting ideas.” El said, pushing the kid back down to sit on the bench rather than stand in it before he hurt himself or one of them.

Probably one of them.

“I don’t remember how high it was.” Erik lied, not wanting to give the kid an idea of the maximum fall he could theoretically survive.

With that dangerous idea planted in the child’s mind and the rain  _ just  _ beginning to lightly patter down, Erik sent him home before he could think up any more questions or demand anything further. 

If his parents were keeping an eye on him, he’d probably be safer than with the two of them who barely knew how to keep a dog out of trouble, come to think of it. 

Oh, before he managed to forget… 

the latch on the window shutters clicked as he locked them. 

“Trying to keep Cole from coming back?” El asked, and won a short laugh from Erik. 

“Not a bad idea.” Erik said, and truly began to feel calmer.

The rain fell down harder by the hour, their house no longer lit by the light of day, but the multitude of candles that El had fetched from the cabinets. 

The rain sent the shutters to shaking, and the thunderclaps came so loud that the entire house rattled. 

The day passed, and they didn’t do a thing to help move it along. 

Sitting together wrapped in the quilt Erik had brought home, surrounded by soft candlelight and Pebbles asleep stretched out across both their legs… 

It wasn’t long at all before Erik found himself drifting off.

Storm or no. 

~~

Erik came to when the warmth at his side was gone, and Pebbles leapt from his lap as he jolted awake.

El was gone. But that wasn’t what woke him up.

More thunder, maybe? Erik stopped to listen, but nothing more came. There was the sound of rainwater dripping, and there was the faintest rumble in the distance, but if the crack of lightning hadn’t woken him all through the night, why would something so faint wake him now?

A raindrop fell.

One tiny ice-cold bead of water from the ceiling, and into his hair.

He shivered, and dragged himself from their cozy little spot.

There was already a bucket just to his left.

That would explain it.

But looking up… It was just about too dark to make anything out, but that at least meant it probably wasn’t anything too serious.

A leak, but nothing more.

“El?” Erik called out as he stood, but taking his time to move the new quilt out of the way of any errant water droplets.

“Outside!” Eleven called back, and Erik braced himself for going out in what remained of the storm.

Dark. Dreary. Damp.

Rain still came down in a steady sheet, but it was the tail end, not the eye.

“Where are you?” Erik called again, and  _ this time _ he got his answer from above. “You’re gonna fall!” 

“It’s not that bad! Just a leak. Looks like a tree limb hit.” El called down from the roof, completely disregarding Erik’s warning, and his stomach lurched as he watched El walk closer to the edge of the thatched roof. Ignoring his comment,  _ and  _ just worrying him more. “I can fix it, no problem.” 

It was made of fucking  _ straw.  _ If a tree limb nearly punched a hole through it, why did El think it could just bear his weight, no problem? “Good,” he called back up, forcing himself to stay in place as El just casually  _ walked to the edge,  _ balanced on a beam. Did he actually want to fall? “Come down, now?”

El just stared at him. “Why? I have everything I need right there.” He gestured to the pile of supplies he’d used to climb up. 

Bales of what Erik could only assume was the same material the roof was made from.

He didn’t understand. 

It was  _ still raining, for Yggdrasil’s sake!  _ “Do you need help?”  _ Can I at least get you a fucking ladder? _

“Just relax!” El told him, turning around and going right back to the weakened spot, “I’ll let you know if I do.”

Well — fine. If he wasn’t going to listen… 

Still, though. He couldn’t bring himself to just leave.

Just in case. 

It seemed as though it was just as he’d begun to relax. Sitting up against the wall, sheltered by the overhang, that it happened.

“There, see?” El said, and Erik heard the crunch of the straw under his boots. “That wasn’t hard, it’s not going to leak much longer, and I’m fine —  _ woah!”  _

Just like Erik had predicted, he finally lost traction on the wet straw, and there wasn’t a damned thing to keep him from falling to the ground. 

Now, it was just one story. Nothing at all like the many topples he’d taken before, from cliffs, waterfalls, vines the idiot thought would support him… and Erik was just miffed enough to feel a tad bit satisfied that he was right. “Told you.” He muttered after El hit the ground with a cringe-worthy  _ thud. _

But he didn’t respond right away, get up, or even move. 

“...El?” Erik felt cold. But when he looked over, El was on his back, limbs splayed wide, eyes stretched open and staring straight through Erik. 

He didn’t respond.

The roof wasn’t  _ that  _ high, was it? He’d seen El take tumbles worse than that before! Rickety old boards crossing little ravines, vines that snapped under his weight, getting picked from the ground by big fuck-off bird monsters until one of them shot him down-

But Erik knew  _ height  _ wasn’t the problem with falls.

It was how you hit. As long as it was hard enough, as long as it was the right angle… The spine, the skull-

Dead, probably not.

But there was so much else, and he wasn’t talking, and Erik’s heart was pounding—  _ “El!”  _ He screamed loud enough to wake the dead, or at least draw the attention of any neighbor that had already braved the weather. “Good goddess, what did you do? I  _ told you  _ that you’d fall!”

At his husband’s side, but not sure if he should even risk touching him-

El blinked, sucked in a lungful of air, and started coughing.

The dumbass had gotten the wind knocked out of him, but nothing more.

He was fine.

The fear paled in comparison to the brand new anger.

He was fine.

And Erik was going to kill him.

“Little help?” El wheezed, sticking a  _ perfectly fine, non-broken and only a little muddy  _ arm into the air. 

It would serve him right to leave him in the mud. But he wouldn’t. “You’re lucky I love your stupid ass.” Erik reminded him, took the offered hand, and hauled him up to his feet.

Where he wobbled.

Exaggerated? Probably.

But Erik didn’t doubt he just busted his entire backside, and a bruise hurt no matter where it was or how stupidly it was obtained.

Erik let El lean on him.

Just until they were back inside.

“Oh.” Eleven said the moment he noticed.

Which also happened to be the moment  _ Erik  _ noticed. 

El’s yelp when he fell, the thud… and Erik’s sound that  _ absolutely was not a scream…  _

They’d called some attention to themselves.

Perfect.

Because that’s what he needed today. 

They  _ could’ve  _ built their home further out of town. They  _ could’ve  _ done many, many things different.

But they didn’t.

“Is everything okay?” Gemma pushed her way past, and Erik didn’t try to stop himself from rolling his eyes as El went just a  _ little more  _ boneless, the drama queen. “Ellie, what happened?”

“Fucker fell off the roof.” Erik answered for him, not bothering to even try and censor himself. “I  _ told  _ him he’d fall.”

“You  _ what?”  _ Gemma, just like he did, went from concerned to frustrated. “It’s still raining! Couldn’t you have waited?” 

Erik made  _ sure  _ to make eye contact with Cole the second he spotted the kid.  _ See this?  _ He hoped Cole heard,  _ the Luminary could get hurt falling off the roof. Don’t go thinking you’ll survive a trip off the Tor! _

He didn’t stop to see if their audience dispersed as Erik dragged them both back inside, and he left El on the edge of their bed just long enough to fetch the quilt he’d left near the table — and tossed it right at El, hitting him square in the face. 

_ “Hey!”  _ El squawked, but he wasn’t quite indignant enough to refuse the blanket. “What’s your problem? I’m sorry. I know I should’ve listened to you.” He asked what Erik’s problem was, but the apology came anyway. No prodding. No pushing. Genuine, even if he sounded embarrassed and put-out. “I’ve patched little holes like that before.” A drop of water landed in the bucket. “I didn’t think this time would be any different… Just wanted to get the leak stopped before you woke up. I thought you could use a little more sleep.”

Either El knew exactly what to say to make the anger wash away, melt a little more of that snærfelt ice, or… 

Fuck. Who cared what it was?

He said the right thing. He did, more often than he didn’t. 

They didn’t fight. There never was a disagreement over anything big enough to warrant one. 

There was so little about where he’d ended up that he’d change, if he was given the chance. And even those things… He wasn’t sure he’d take it.

That- that was the problem, wasn’t it? As happy as he could be here, as happy as he very nearly was…

Anger and fear, on a constant tide in his mind going back and forth.

It could all come to a horrible end at any moment. 

That could’ve been it. The end. And what a  _ stupid  _ end it would’ve been.

“How long?”

El paused, and waited for Erik to continue. To elaborate, to specify what in the world he could possibly mean — but Erik couldn’t.

_ “How long?”  _ He demanded again. He didn’t mean anything specific, he couldn’t. He meant all of it. How long could this all last? 

Everything had an expiration date. 

He just needed to know when it was coming. He needed to be prepared. 

“How long… what?” El asked, standing slowly as if Erik would rush off at any sudden movement.

Which… fair enough.

He might just do that. 

Or… Maybe he was moving slow because of the pain. He  _ did  _ just tumble off the roof, after all. 

“How long until this all ends?” Erik finally choked out, and once that one question was out, there was no stopping the ones that came next. “How long until there’s another disaster? How long until we’re fighting for our lives again?” There was always something lurking around the corner. Mordegon. Calasmos. Even things not so dire… How long until there was another Dora-in-Grey? Another Auroral Serpent? And even lesser than that… Erik felt his voice crack, and spoke lower. He didn’t know why. There wasn’t any hiding it, now. “How long until  _ we’re  _ over? Until you get sick of putting up with me?” He knew it was coming. People always did. No matter how much he loved them. It never seemed to be enough. “How long until I’m a drifter, again?”

Erik didn’t know what kind of reaction to expect from El. He didn’t know whether to expect anger, or hurt… If they’d finally have a fight or if El would just go cold and distant-

“What part of this seems impermanent to you?” Erik looked up, and El hadn’t moved. He still sat right where Erik had left him, shock-still, looking at the floor. “I’m serious. I know you’ve had trouble with the change, but I was hoping that time would help. But clearly…” El raised his eyes from the floor, and instead of drilling holes through the stone floor, they tore through Erik instead. “Why are you so sure this is going to disintegrate? This is my home. What do we need to do to make this home for _you?”_

“I don’t know.” Erik confessed. He knew it was stupid. He  _ knew  _ it was just his own imagination playing tricks on him. But that knowledge didn’t make the illusions seem any less real. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Forget that I did.”

“You aren’t the only one terrified of things falling apart, you know.”

Erik flinched back. So that was it. They both knew it, and if they both knew it… It couldn’t be too far away. Something would happen. They’ll fall out of love, and then it’d be over. El would stay, Erik would leave, and it’d all be ruined. 

Erik’s newfound home and family… the peace… whatever they thought would come next… even their friendship would be gone, and they’d only have themselves to blame—

“That isn’t what I meant at all.” Eleven said. He wasn’t telepathic. He couldn’t know for sure where exactly Erik’s mind had gone, but he knew him well enough at this point to have a good enough guess. 

“Sorry.” Erik said again. He didn’t know what else  _ to  _ say. 

“I  _ meant  _ that just because you’re worried doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. I meant that you aren’t alone.” Eleven was silent for a moment. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Erik looked up. “What?”

“Don’t ask  _ what.  _ I know you aren’t feeling like yourself.” He looked away again, feeling guilt try to claw up his throat. He just wanted this to be done. But El wasn’t yet finished. “I know it’s been hard for you to go from living on the road to living here, but…” He stopped when he realized he was only repeating himself.

That wasn’t any problem for Erik. “Sorry.”

“You know we don’t  _ have  _ to settle down.” 

That was finally what it took to truly get Erik’s attention.  _ What- _

“Living here doesn’t mean we have to be here  _ all _ the time. We can still explore, you know!”

He hadn’t-

Erik had felt lost the moment they’d decided to come back to Cobblestone.

Lost in a way that had nothing to do with where he was. Physically, at least. 

But finding somewhere to put down roots, that’s what came at the end of journey, right?

Somewhere to enjoy the peace.

To rest.

To reap the rewards and enjoy the world they’d saved. The life they still had to live. 

And Cobblestone… It wasn’t Erik’s. It was El’s.

But nowhere was  _ really  _ Erik’s. 

Sniflheim wasn’t anywhere he’d want to stay.

He didn’t want a home in Heliodor. Not as long as the Downtown was still so separated, not as long as he was just a walk away from where he’d been imprisoned. 

But El had a home. A place to be. 

And he just thought he could tag along.

“Just because this _ started _ doesn’t mean our old lives have to  _ end.”  _

And — that was painfully obvious, wasn’t it? 

But Erik had always been too focused on the end goal to see the full picture. 

El might’ve known Cobblestone longer than any other place, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be there  _ all  _ the time. 

He loved their time crossing the globe just as much as Erik did. If not more.

It was new to him.

There were still so many places he hadn’t seen.

Places off the beaten road that Erik could show him.

But… “Really?” Erik asked.

El wasn’t  _ lying.  _ But… If he was just trying to make Erik feel better, if he actually didn’t want to leave again… Erik didn’t want to be the reason he had to.

“Cobblestone can be our base.” Eleven said, “We can come back here to rest. Chart our next path. Just let me know when you want to leave.”

“I-” For months, the world outside the south of Heliodor had been closed to him. Only a tiny slice of the world open to him. The view from the Tor was vast and beautiful, but completely out of reach. But now… It was too much. Nothing to everything, all too fast. “I don’t know.”

“That's fine.” Eleven said instead of getting upset at his indecision. “You don’t need to decide right now. And,” he continued on, the pitter of claws against stone growing closer. Pebbles trotted right past him to sit between El’s feet, tail wagging a mile a minute. “Maybe it would be best to wait just a little while longer. Then maybe he can come with us, too.”

He said it like it had been decided.

Like that was his plan all along, and Erik just hadn’t seen.

He felt like an idiot, standing in the middle of the room, hands at his sides, dripping rainwater and just now seeing everything that had been right in front of him for ages.

“Erik, love?”

He looked up.

El had pebbles on the bed next to him.

But he couldn’t be bothered to remind him that  _ the dog wasn’t allowed there. _

He knew at the start that rule wasn’t going to be followed. 

_ Hunting dog.  _ Right. Pebbles was always going to be a lap dog. 

“Come to bed. Get some sleep.”

“I just got up.” Erik pointed out.

“It’s still raining. There’s a leak in the roof that isn’t completely fixed yet.” Eleven reminded him. “What else are we meant to do?”

Okay. Point made. 

“Get dried off. We’ll have a quiet day. In the morning, it’ll seem better.”

Erik didn’t know if he believed that. But for the sake of trying… Or maybe just the sake of putting off the conversation… “Okay.”

~~

Waking naturally wasn’t ever something Erik could claim was normal for him. 

Or regular sleep at all, for that matter.

So when he did on those rare occasions wake on his own and not to noise or the harsh light of the dawn sun, feeling what he could only assume what it was to be  _ rested… _

It was always a little confusing, at first.

And the fingers combing through the short hair at the back of his head weren’t doing a damned thing to help him wake up.

He could tell the light outside was harsh from what little came through the shutters. There was a steady drip, but the rain was gone.

Their neighbor’s chickens were clucking loudly, probably having just been given their morning feed. 

But not one bit of the day outside managed to sink its claws into him.

He was safe from the passage of time right outside the warmth of their bed.

“Good morning.” Eleven said when he noticed that Erik wasn’t still asleep, but wasn’t quite awake. He had Erik in the crook of one arm, and their dog in the other. “It’s about time you let yourself sleep as much as you need.” 

Erik hadn’t yet developed his capability for speech, and just hummed in response. Was it an agreement? A rebuttal? 

Who could know?

“You can go back to sleep.” Eleven offered. “I’ll be here.”

Well. If there was one thing that could force him back into wakefulness, it was a stupid thought he could give voice to. “You’ll be here…” he started, just to clear the croak from his voice, “is that because you broke your ass and can’t stand up?” 

“While that may be true I assure you it is not a factor here.”

_ “Right.”  _ Erik said, but he wasn’t complaining either way. Just meant he had a captive pillow. 

He’d probably slept far more than he needed to. If he tried for more, he’d end up with a headache. 

But that was a problem he could deal with later.

“You know… You already seem more like yourself.” 

“Yeah?” Erik said, deciding that even if he didn’t sleep more, it didn’t mean they had to get up. Because he absolutely wasn’t going to get up. Not until he had to. “And why’s that?”

“No reason.” Eleven oh-so wisely decided to answer. His hand stilled in Erik’s hair. “You’ll let me know if you ever let your mind run wild like that again?”

_ Run wild.  _ Was that really how that could be described? It was closer to just being… fuck, what the hell was language? He was just letting stupid ideas go too far.

Which… Yeah. That was actually an accurate description, wasn’t it?

Just another case for letting it go too far. “Yeah. I’ll let you know.”

“Good.” Eleven said, taking his word without question. “In that case… I was thinking, whenever we do leave next, what do you think about checking out the ruins in the Manglegrove?”

“Why there?” Erik asked.  _ Why so close to home?  _

Of course there was a lot just nearby. Unexplored mountains, untamed rainforest, even the Emerald Coast to set off from… 

Just leaving didn’t mean they needed to set off for the other end of the world, but  _ still.  _ They didn’t need to stay in their own backyard either, so to speak.

“I mean… It’s  _ right _ there.” Eleven shrugged the shoulder that Erik wasn’t occupying. “There were all these old pillars and statues, but nothing else. They had to have come from somewhere, right? That whole place is almost completely unexplored.” He paused to see if Erik was listening. And he was. Growing a little more transfixed with each word. “We’d be the first. Who knows what we might find?”

_ Who knows?  _ Things left abandoned to nature by some civilization so ancient that not one living person even remembered it.

Treasures unique to the rest of Erdrea simply left to be reclaimed by nature.

At least until someone came by to take it for themselves.

And, just like El said, it was  _ right there.  _ Maybe their backyard was the best place to set off at.

“Alright, if you’re so keen, then that’ll be our first stop.” And past that… well. They’d figure it out. 


End file.
